The Acer Chromebook 15flaunts real estate physical display that many students and home users will find comfortable to use. Chromebook users have been treated to small screen displays for a long time, but the massive 15.6 inch display that comes with the Acer Chromebook is bigger and offers better Chrome OS experience at a fair price.

Under the hood, the Chromebook houses an Intel Celeron Dual-Core 3205U 1.5 GHz Processor, 4GB of DDR3L SDRAM and 16GB Solid state drive. The laptop includes a Full HD 1920×1080 resolution display with a higher-quality IPS panel and Intel HD graphics. The Chromebook offers great performance with a long battery life and an excellent sound quality. The device is a bit bulky hence not that much of a travelling companion just like other Chromebooks. The system is meant to be more of a desktop replacement than a drop-it-in-your-bag-and-go kind of computer for students and home users.

Design

The Acer Chromebook 15 CB5-571-C1DZ comes with an inexpensive plastic construction that feels sturdy and it is covered with a woven texture which is essential for a better grip. It is available in White and Black, with the white color most likely to stain fast. The laptop measures 15.08 x 9.65 x 0.97 inches and weighs 4.8 pounds which is slightly bigger and thicker than the 13-inch Samsung Chromebook which measures and weighs 4 pounds.

The larger chassis is good for a full-size chiclet-style keyboard and a bigger battery that offers up to 8 hours and 40 minutes of usage. It therefore lasts longer than the Toshiba CB35-B3340 (7:10) or the HP Chromebook 11 (Verizon LTE) (5:28). It is also far much better than the HP Chromebook 14 (3:36) but does not outperform the Asus C300 that lasts up to 10hrs and 40 minutes. As such, you can use the laptop all day before connecting your charging adapter.

Performance

The Chromebook 15 is powered by a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron Dual-Core 3205U processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. The Intel chip can consume a maximum of 15 watts power, as such the ultra-low voltage CPU can easily handle the Google operating system. The device combines enough power to offer a snappy performance in handling day to day tasks such as emailing, browsing and document editing. As with most Chromebooks, multitasking does no come easy without the system slowing down.

Once you have nine or 10 browsing tabs open, the performance slows considerably, and in some uses like taking on multiple video streams in Google Hangouts you’ll really feel the pinch. The Chromebook comes with a 16GB SSD that is not enough for storing your stuff. Google provides 100 GB of free Google Drive storage for two years that makes it possible to access your stuff from anywhere provided you have an internet connection.

Connectivity

In the connectivity department, the Chromebook features a solid array of connectivity options including a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port for faster transfer speeds. There is a headphone and mic-jack port and a full HDMI port for extending your display to larger screens like Monitors and HDTVs. To expand your storage or copy files, you got a full size SD card slot that supports up to 128GB.

Despite the fact that the Chromebook comes with a bigger chassis, it does not include a DVD optical drive, so you have to purchase it separately in case you find it useful. Internet connectivity is possible by way of 802.11ac Wi-Fi that offers both speed and connection quality with a dual-band MIMO setup. It also come with a built-in Bluetooth 4.0 for connecting with compatible devices.

Display

The 15.6-inch display Chromebook boasts of a full HD 1920×1080 resolution with an IPS panel that offers wide viewing angles. It has anti-glare to prevent tiredness during long period of usability. It comes with Intel HD graphics that enhances the graphic effect to offer a vivid view on screen good for watching movies.

The Chromebook hits 228 nits on the brightness meter which is a bit dimmer compared to the average mainstream laptops such as the Toshiba Chromebook 2 that offers 339 nits. It however outperforms the HP Chromebook 14 with 209 nits and Samsung Chromebook 2 that offers 214 nits on the brightness meter. The Chromebook features a 720p webcam that is on the bezel above the display that is fairly good for taking of photos and video-chatting with friends and family through Skype.

Other Features

Acer maintains the same keyboard seen on other Chromebooks with the remaining space being used for stereo speakers. This makes the Chromebook a good companion for entertainment as it offers a good sound quality. Back to the keyboard; the island styled keys with white lettering are spacious enough for comfortable typing with a depth of 1.3mm.

It is shallower than the 1.5mm on the HP Chromebook but performs better than the Samsung Chromebook 2 which offers 1.1mm and the Toshiba Chromebook at 1.2mm. It also features an accurate and responsive touchpad that measures 4.2×3-inches. The touchpad works smoothly with Two-finger scrolling and three-finger swiping on the desktop.

Conclusion

The Acer Chromebook 15offers a standard Chromebook experience, with a larger display and chassis. It is the largest model of a Chromebook that replaces the cramped small models which some users might find more comfortable especially those who don’t need to carry it everywhere. The large display makes it ideal for working on spreadsheets, web surfing and the speedy performance it offers makes it dependable for handling day to day tasks.

The stunning full HD 1920×1080 IPS display is head and shoulders above any non IPS displays found in other models. The brighter side of this laptop is also on its long battery life and loud speakers for entertainment. If you are after a system that offers compelling performance while keeping it portable, then you might find the HP Chromebook 11 more comfy. All said, the Acer Chromebook 15 is a good machine with an interesting place in the market of Chromebooks.

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